Freedom in the World 1999 - Singapore

1999 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 5.0
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 5

Overview

In 1999, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's continued efforts to promote a more creative and entrepreneurial culture in Singapore remained at odds with an authoritarian political system that encourages conformity and restricts the flow of news and information.

Singapore became a British colony in 1867. Occupied by the Japanese during World War II, the city-state became self-governing in 1959, entered the Malaysian Federation in 1963, and in 1965 became fully independent under Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The 1959 constitution created a parliamentary system with elections held at least once every five years. Two amendments authorize the government to appoint additional members of parliament to ensure that the opposition has at least three seats. A 1993 amendment provided for the president to be elected for a six-year term and vested the office with limited responsibility over certain budgetary and financial matters and civil service appointments.

The People's Action Party (PAP) won every seat in every election from 1968 to 1980 before losing a 1981 by-election. Lee resigned in 1990 in favor of Goh, his hand-picked successor. Prior to Singapore's first presidential elections in 1993, a three-member Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) rejected two opposition candidates for lacking proper character and the requisite financial experience. Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong won 58 percent of the vote against a weak challenger to become president.

The nine-day campaign for the January 2, 1997, parliamentary elections featured a rare airing of diverse views on critical issues. Opposition calls for greater freedom of expression and criticism of rising costs of living appeared to resonate among young professionals. Goh responded by warning that neighborhoods voting against the PAP would be the lowest priority for government-sponsored upgrades of public housing estates, where some 85 percent of Singaporeans live. With the opposition contesting only 36 seats in an expanded 83-seat parliament, the PAP won 65 percent of the vote and 81 seats, with the left-of-center Workers' Party (WP) and the centrist Singapore People's Party each winning 1 seat.

Following the election, Goh and ten other PAP leaders filed defamation suits against two defeated WP candidates, party secretary-general J. B. Jayaretnam and Tang Liang Hong. Jayaretnam had announced during a campaign rally that Tang had filed police reports against PAP leaders for calling Tang "anti-Christian" and a "Chinese chauvinist." The courts ruled against both men, although the final judgments were for considerably less than the PAP leaders had sought.

In February and March 1999, Chee Soon Juan of the tiny, opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) served jail terms of 7 and 12 days for violating the Public Entertainments Act after making a pair of financial district speeches without permits in December 1998 and January 1999. Chee opted to serve the sentences rather than pay fines and alleged that on previous occasions authorities had denied or delayed granting permits until it was too late to make arrangements. A second SDP member, found guilty under similar charges for assisting Chee during his January speech, also opted for a 12-day jail term rather than pay a S$2,400 (USD $1,500) fine. In June, President Ong announced he would not run for a second term. In August, S. R. Nathan, 75, a former ambassador, became president by default after the PEC declared ineligible two other candidates – a private tutor and an opposition politician.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Constitutionally, Singaporeans can change their government through elections. In practice, the PAP government maintains tight limits on pluralistic politics through its use of civil and security laws against political opponents; control over the press; and use of patronage. Government agencies operate with limited transparency. Nevertheless, the PAP appears to enjoy considerable popular support for having overseen Singapore's transformation from a low-wage economy to a regional high-technology and financial center.

Opposition parties have trouble fielding viable slates for Group Representation Constituencies (GRC), or multimember electoral districts in which at least one candidate must be an ethnic minority. The current parliament has 15 GRCs, with a maximum of six seats each, and only 9 single-member districts. Strict regulations govern the constitutions and financial affairs of political parties. In 1998, parliament amended censorship regulations to ban political parties from making videos or television advertisements.

The judiciary has consistently ruled in favor of the government or PAP leaders in a series of defamation suits and other cases that have nearly bankrupted some opposition figures, including a 1986 fraud conviction against the WP's Jayaretnam that the Privy Council in London criticized. However, courts have acquitted defendants or reduced monetary damages in some such cases. Some of the grounds for conviction of opposition figures have raised serious questions about judicial independence. For example, Amnesty International criticized a 1997 defamation conviction against Jayaretnam for being based on alleged "innuendo" rather than Jayaretnam's actual words.

The president appoints supreme court judges on the recommendation of the prime minister with the advice of the chief justice and appoints lower court judges on the recommendation of the chief justice. The Legal Services Commission, chaired by the chief justice, sets the terms of appointment. Judges, especially supreme court judges, have close ties to PAP leaders.

Police reportedly abuse detainees to extract confessions. Authorities use caning to punish approximately 30 offenses, including certain immigration violations.

The colonial-era Internal Security Act (ISA) permits authorities to detain suspects without charge or trial for an unlimited number of two-year periods. The government uses the ISA relatively infrequently, but released the last political detainee under the ISA as recently as 1989. The ISA also permits the government to restrict the political and civil rights of former detainees. The government actively uses two other laws that permit detention without trial: one to detain people for alleged narcotics offenses or involvement in secret societies, the other to commit drug abusers to rehabilitation centers. A 1989 constitutional amendment prohibits judicial review of the substantive grounds of detentions under the ISA and antisubversion laws, and bars the judiciary from reviewing the constitutionality of such laws. There is no right to a public trial under the ISA.

By law, the government must approve the owners of key "management shares" in the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). SPH has close ties to the PAP and owns all general circulation newspapers. Journalists practice self-censorship regarding numerous political, social, and economic issues, and editorials and domestic news coverage strongly favor the PAP.

In 1994, a court fined two journalists and three economists under the Official Secrets Act, which bars the unauthorized release of government data to the media, for publishing advance gross domestic product figures. In 1995, courts ruled against the International Herald Tribune for contempt of court and libel, and assessed fines totaling $892,000. The government can legally ban newspapers, although it has not done so recently. A 1986 amendment to the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act allows the government to "gazette," or restrict circulation of, any foreign periodical for publishing articles allegedly interfering in domestic politics. In recent years, authorities have gazetted Time, Far Eastern Economic Review, The Economist, and other publications.

The government-affiliated Singapore International Media PTE, Ltd., operates all four free television stations and at least ten of Singapore's nearly 20 radio stations. Foreign broadcasts are available. Government-linked companies provide the three Internet services and the cable television service. In May 1999, an Internet service provider apologized for not having informed its customers before requesting in April that the home ministry scan 200,000 computers in an effort to trace a virus that allows hackers to steal computer passwords and credit card numbers. The government subjects movies, television, videos, music, and the Internet to censorship.

In April, after his convictions for unauthorized public speeches, a court convicted Chee under the Public Environmental Health Act for selling his book on Asian dissidents without a license; he paid a $347 fine. In August, authorities reportedly refused to allow Chee to hold public speeches in two locations.

The Societies Act requires most organizations of more than ten people to be registered and restricts political activity to political parties. However, the PAP has close ties with ostensibly nonpolitical associations such as neighborhood groups, while authorities generally do not permit opposition parties to form similar groups. Authorities must approve speakers at public functions, and they occasionally deny approval to opposition politicians. The police must approve any public assembly of more than five people. In May 1999, opposition leaders Chee and Jayaretnam established Singapore's first politically oriented nongovernmental organization, the nonpartisan Open Singapore Center, to advocate greater transparency and accountability in government and business.

Freedom of religion is generally respected, although the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Unification Church are banned under the Societies Act. According to Amnesty International, in 1998, at least 36 conscientious objectors to military service, all members of the Jehovah's Witnesses, were in prison. Race riots between Malays and the majority Chinese killed scores of people in the 1960s, and the government takes measures to promote racial harmony and equity. Minorities are well represented in government, but Malays reportedly face unofficial discrimination in employment opportunities.

Most unions are affiliated with the pro-government National Trade Unions Congress. There have been no strikes since 1986, in part because labor shortages give employees considerable leverage. The regional financial crisis pushed Singapore into its first recession since 1985 in the third quarter of 1998. In late 1999, some private economists estimated that gross domestic product had grown four percent in 1999.